Constance McMillen Photo: AP
Posted on 04/07/2010 7:56:09 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Disappointment as US high school students snub 'lesbian-friendly prom'
Senior prom fell far short of the rite of passage Constance McMillen was hoping for when she began a legal battle to challenge a ban on same-sex dates.
Published: 7:00AM BST 07 Apr 2010
Constance McMillen Photo: AP
The 18-year-old lesbian student said that she was one of only seven students to show up at a private party chaperoned by school officials. She said the rest of her peers went to another private event where she wasn't invited.
"It was not the prom I imagined," she said. "It really hurts my feelings. These are still people who I've gone through school with, even teachers who loved me before this all started. I've never been a bad student and I don't feel like I deserve to be put through this."
Her case drew a national spotlight after she and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged an Itawamba County School District rule that banned same-sex prom dates and a requirement that only male students wear tuxedos. Proms are parties held for students, generally in their senior year in high school.
The ACLU sent a demand letter to Superintendent Teresa McNeece in February, saying the rules against same-sex prom dates and girls wearing tuxedos violated Miss McMillen's constitutional rights. The district responded by withdrawing its sponsorship and cancelling the April 2 event.
In an apparent compromise, school district officials said parents would organise a private event with school chaperones that Miss McMillen could attend.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I am a senior at IAHS, and I’ve known Constance for the last 6 years. Please hear our side of the story before you decide on our fate.
The party we had in Evergreen (the county neighborhood I live in) is 30 mins away from the school. we rented out the community center, hired vendors, decorated, and our parents ran the security/chaperone staff- but it wasn’t prom. Prom was at the country club where constance and 7 other students were. The reason the senior class boycotted the actual prom was not because we hate gays. We wanted a drama-free gathering to celebrate 3 great years and 1 lousy one together, and we wanted to lay low. We also wanted to do it without the main cause of the lousy. What people are failing to realize is that much of the fault of this whole stink lies with Constance, not her mistreatment by the school district, but her crazy-reckless need for attention. It sounds mean and horrible and like we planned it all specifically to embarrass Constance, but we didn’t. We let her have her prom with her girlfriend and her tuxedo and we went to party it up in the “boondocks” not because we wanted her rights violated, but so we could salvage what has turned into a total fiasco. As a whole we didn’t support her decision to throw the district under the bus, or her insinuations that we’re all just a bunch ‘a hicks driving around in beater pick up trucks spitting tobacco and burning crosses. IAHS is one of the top schools in the state and I’m proud of that, and I’m proud that we took a stand and just said you know what? forget it, we have just as much right as you do to have a party for ourselves. So we did, and now we’re getting flack because poor Connie’s ego got a bit of bruising. She’s playing the lesbian card to prove she ALWAYS gets what she wants. This time, we didn’t just let her.
Take it as you will, because I’m sure it sounds like we faked her out, but understand this- the decision NOT to attend prom had nothing to do with the school or with Constance’s sexual preferences; it had everything to do with proving we weren’t going to let her and the ACLU steamroll us into doing what Constance wanted. We flexed the muscle of the majority and we’ll suffer the consequences.
Actually, despite my belief that homosexuality is always a sin ... I think this is absolutely terrible. I would have my kids’ heads for treating ANYONE that way. Hate the sin, not the sinner; let he without sin cast the first stone — all of those often misused, universally misunderstood cliches actually apply here.
Completely appalling.
SnakeDoc
.
She put herself through this.
She has no one to blamed but herself.
Just my opinion.
It appears this event took place in the US. Why doesn’t the media even mention it?
Found her....
On another thread, someone said her original “date” was not allowed to attend because her parents objected.
LOL :)
btt
My understanding is that some of the remaining seven were “special needs” kids ... not homosexuals.
SnakeDoc
Wow. Smart kid.
"Everyone HATES me, what's wrong with all of THEM!" is the attitude that I'm getting, here. Along with the fact that this girls 15 minutes of fame are up, and she's trying to squeeze a little more out of it.
If Constance McMillen is an 18-yesr-old lesbian, was she indoctrinated into lesbianism by a lesbian pedophile last year, or in previous years when she was even younger?
WHY CAN'T WE PROTECT THE CHILDREN FROM THE PEDOPHILES???
;-)
Thanks
“an alternative life-style program.”
You mean “a PERVERTED life-style program.”
Thanks....I’m gonna guess that the “date” was a lot younger.
LOL!!! Or maybe the singleton was transgendered and spent half the night in a tux and half in a gown.
Looks like the ACLU cannot order kids who to party with, can they?
I hope she’s happy that she destroyed an otherwise pleasant, once-in-a-lifetime event (prom) by being not only perverted but selfish. She’s a lowlife . . . somebody they’ll never forget.
excellent
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